To be sure, Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies have been called all sorts of (negative and derogatory) things since they came into the public domain a few years back, and many articles have been written on the subject. On the other side of the coin, however, there have been many positive articles penned – by respected businessmen, and in some cases visionaries, who you are sure to have heard of:

Sir Richard Branson.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates

Apple’s Steve Wozniak

Ex US Vice-President Al Gore.

Eric Schmidt, the head of Google.

ex-President of Paypal, David Marcus

Big fund managers like Mike Novogratz

Established venture capitalists like Tim Draper, and Marc Andreeson of Andreeson Horowitz

and

CNBC’s and CryptoTrader’s Ran Neu Ner

being amongst them. (Many of whom have put their money where their mouths are..and considerable sums at that).

But who to believe? And who to be guided by?

Well, it depends on which side of the net you sit.

If you’re a traditionalist, averse to change and see Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies as a threat to the existing world economic order, you’ll likely dislike them, talk disparagingly about them – and vow not to invest in them.

If on the other hand, you believe that in this digital age, existing ways of doing things and paying for goods and services are being turned on their head (think uber, for instance), you’ll probably be embracing of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies and believe that yes, they could potentially be THE NEW MONEY and A NEW ASSET CLASS. In which case, you may be open to investing in them.

Certainly, in my case – having been in the cryptocurrency space for three years – I have spoken with, and met with, many people here in South Africa (and in other African countries) who are hugely excited by the advent of cryptocurrencies: many of whom have invested in them.

(Personally, I’m not a fan of just holding Bitcoin ie there is so much more one can do with them…but I will leave this for another article).

Today, there are many thousands of people on the African continent with Bitcoin in their Bitcoin wallets. Primarily, in Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Botswana and South Africa. Globally, there are probably a good few million people with bitcoin wallets, with the majority of them residing in South East Asia ie Malaysia, South Korea and Japan, and further afield, in destinations like Dubai, Malta and Switzerland – countries embracing of crypto.

These are people who see cryptocurrency as the future of money. They typically have a higher propensity for risk and are excited by change. As things stand, they are however clearly in the minority. Their numbers will grow for sure, but right now, they constitute a tiny percentage of the world’s population.

The vast majority of people (typically “Westerners”) are either not interested in Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, or have no understanding of them.

Once you’ve sat through them, you’ll see that there’s little middle ground. People are either very pro-crypto….or very anti-crypto.

It’s an interesting one, and the next few years will be telling indeed.

In the meantime, there’s one website that I urge people to visit. www.coindesk.com

It’s a site aimed at keeping people abreast of developments in the Blockchain and crypto space.

I have no doubt that those who read the site’s articles (positive and negative) on a daily basis will be able to form an opinion in a short space of time, and will be better positioned to answer the question: